It’s true — Kevin and I finally took the leap and cancelled our cable service last month. We’d been thinking about doing this for a while, since most of what we watch either comes from Netflix or Hulu anyway, and plus the significant drop in the monthly Time Warner bill sounded pretty appealing.
And so far it’s been very okay! I was a little concerned about losing HGTV, and Kevin was apprehensive about no more news, but then we downloaded the BBC streaming app to our smart Blueray player and I realized HGTV.com has pretty much everything available online, and we were all set! (Granted, we’re not big sports watchers, and I know that’s an issue for lots of folks when they consider ditching cable.)
Admittedly, it was a little strange those first few days when we’d turn on the TV and there was — well — nothing on the screen until we turned on the Blueray player or hooked up a laptop. But now it seems totally normal. (Amazing how we humans can adapt so fast, huh?)
It feels less wasteful now, in a way. Before we had all those channels and watched maybe 12 of them total. (Because, like I said, we were already spending most of our TV time on Netflix and Hulu anyway. Real time TV was pretty much a thing of the past, minus stuff like “Walking Dead.”)
If you’re considering making the move, check out this Salon article, which gives some helpful tips and tricks to making the adjustment far from painless. Some of the highlights?:
It can save you major dollars. (“One estimate found that when you factor in inflation, the monthly ongoing expenditure on cable and what you could additionally be earning off that expenditure if you were investing it, cable TV over your lifetime could cost you between $634,000 and $4.2 million.”) Wowza!
It gives you control — and can help save sanity. (“Cutting the cord thankfully removed the frictionless availability of the unwanted noise and terror, while the Internet still, for the most part, lets me find the clips and video content I truly want.”)
Who else has jumped on the life-without-cable bandwagon? How do you like it? Are you thinking about taking the plunge?
I’m with you on the long-term savings of living without cable. Cameron and I watch Netflix through our Wii and get more than enough programming to fill any TV/movie desires. 🙂 Hats off to you, lady! (and you, too, Kevin. 🙂 )